Dorian Gray #7

        Dorian's inability to continue with his Hedonistic lifestyle becomes even clearer towards the end of the book. No longer can accessible pleasures quench his desires--he finds the need to travel an hour to get an edge off of opium, the only pleasure he can think of. He fantasizes of opium-dens, "where one could buy oblivion, dens of horror where the memory of old sins could be destroyed by the madness of sins that were new" (135). Dorian tries to find more ways to distract his mind from the terrible deed he committed the night before, to the point where he develops a "hideous hunger for opium" (136) in order to make him forget. The hunger can be explained by the failures of choosing to live a Hedonistic lifestyle. One of the faults is the fact that pleasures don't last long, every time creating a deeper yearning for more pleasure. Also, Dorian chose to give in to an urge by murdering Basil and is now suffering the mental consequences. He later describes his inner struggle: "He was prisoned in thought. Memory, like a horrible malady, was eating his soul away" (138). His friends are noticing he is not himself. With James Vane determined to murder him, and his constant memory of killing Basil, Dorian will soon either admit his deeds or make them noticeable to all.